Vulcan
Description: Surak, founder of modern Vulcan civilisation Description: First contact with Humans in 2063 This article is about the Vulcan species. For information about the planet Vulcan, see Vulcan (planet). The Vulcans are a humanoid civilization responsible in a large part for the founding of the United Federation of Planets. The Vulcans originate from the planet Vulcan in the 40 Eridani A system. History and Politics Culturally one of the most fascinating species in the Alpha Quadrant, the Vulcans were once an extremely violent and emotional people who waged almost constant warfare on one another. They believed in a variety of gods, such as war, peace and death. As their level of technology improved, the Vulcans eventually reached a point where their violent nature threatened species extinction. In an effort to avoid this fate, a Vulcan named Surak developed a new philosophy; Surak maintained that the root cause of all the problems on Vulcan lay in the uncontrolled outpouring of the peoples emotions. His followers swore to live their lives by an ethical system devised by Surak and based purely on logical principles. All expression of emotions, negative or positive, was completely forbidden. Although this new philosophy spread rapidly across Vulcan, a minority rejected Surak's ideals. They left Vulcan and founded colonies elsewhere - most notably on the planet Romulus, where they founded what eventually became the Romulan Star Empire. One of the first of the current powers to discover warp drive, the Vulcans conducted a series of survey missions in the mid 2000's. The official First Contact between Vulcans and Humans came in 2063 when a Vulcan survey ship detected the warp flight of Zefram Cochrane. The Vulcans met with Cochrane at his launch site on the day following the flight, and the Vulcans eventually became Earth's "big brother" in a way, advising Earth officials on how to proceed into the galaxy. The Vulcan High Command considered humans volatile, and so attempted to slow down humanity's move into the galaxy until the time was right. (ENT: "Broken Bow") In contrast, the Vulcans have a long history of border skirmishes with the neighboring Andorians. The Humans helped negotiate a peace between the two. (ENT: "Cease Fire") The Vulcans had both contact with Cardassia Prime and Trill already in late 21st century or early 22nd century and later an unspecified Vulcan ship is the first to make formal contact with a Gamma Quadrant civilization, the Wadi. Today Vulcan remains one of the principal Federation members, and is deeply involved in all levels of that society. Despite the enmity between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire, Vulcans have been attempting to forge a more cordial relationship with their cousins - ultimately hoping to reunify the two cultures. So far these efforts have met with little success. (TNG: "Unification, Part I", "Part II") The Vulcan ministry of security is known as the V'Shar. At least one Vulcan has served as Starfleet Academy superintendent, one who memorized every cadet's personal file, during all or part of Commander William Riker's years in 2353-2357. Physiology While externally similar to Humans, with exeptions as the Vulcans notably pointy ears and arched eyebrows, Vulcan anatomy differs radically - for instance, their heart is where a Human's liver would normally be, and beats several hundred times per minute, while their blood is copper-based and distinctly green in color. (TOS: "The Naked Time") Vulcans have very sensitive ears, and their eyes have an inner eyelid which has evolved as a defence against the harsh Vulcan sun. Vulcan females possess a heightened sense of smell. Vulcans also have superior metabolism to humans. Caffeine has little effect on Vulcans. (ENT: "Breaking the Ice") Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Vulcan physiology is the brain. The Vulcan brain is in direct control of most of the bodily functions, acting as a control unit for many organs. Vulcans have learned to gain conscious control of many of these functions, allowing them to regulate their bodies to a high degree by simple willpower. When injured a Vulcan can go into a trance-like state, using this ability to concentrate all of his or her energy onto repairing the injury. Vulcans have also developed a technique called neuropressure than can be used to relax the mind and body. (ENT: "The Xindi") The substance trellium-D acts as a neurotoxin to Vulcans, destroying the neural pathways which control their emotions. Treatment must be provided quickly after exposure, otherwise the damage is irreversible. Of course the most famous aspect of the Vulcan brain is the inherent telepathic ability. Many Vulcans are natural touch-telepaths, though considerable training is required to utilise this ability fully. Stronger minds are capable of non-contact telepathy, usually over short distances and in a limited fashion; occasionally Vulcans have emerged whose telepathic abilities are far stronger than the norm. The rigorous mental training all Vulcans are given often allows such individuals to develop such abilities as emotional compulsion and psychic image projection. With the sole exception of Rao Vantika (who achieved it through technology), Vulcans are the only race who have ever performed a synaptic pattern displacement, or the transfer of one individual's consciousness into another. The psychosuppression system responsible for the Vulcan cessation of emotions is located in the mesiofrontal cortex. Every seven years, adult Vulcans must endure pon farr, the Vulcan mating period. It is marked by intense emotions and primal urges (also known as plak tow, or "blood fever") that can kill the Vulcan if not satisfied. For such an orderly society of quiet sobriety, the madness and outbreak during pon farr is the unavoidable evil. (TOS: "Amok Time") Society Vulcans are pacifists, a condition that is dictated by their logical tendencies. The government on Vulcan is a representative democracy, which tends towards laissez faire, and the law system is designed to make laws easier to rescind than implement. For an instensely logical race, the Vulcans do have a very firm spiritual belief. Though they do not seem to have an unifying religion, they believe in the katra, the soul and consciousness of a person, which can be transferred psionically prior to death. Aided and restrained by centuries-old philosophy and techniques, Vulcans are a race of adept telepaths. Wherever a Vulcan may have been brought up, most return to Vulcan for rigid training which develops their concentration, meditation, and telepathic abilities. There are a number of psionic institutions, called Sohk-Paks or "schools of the mind". The first great Sohk-Pak was supposedly founded by Sorinak 7200 years ago. Vulcans have chosen mates by the age of seven, selected by their parents, the mates are joined in a ceremony that links them telepathically. When the two come of age, the link compels them to follow through with full marital rituals, which cement their relationship. The essence of their logical society is in arriving at the truth through logical process. Emotion is illogical, thus making them impure, and deterrent to truth. However, Vulcans are born with the same emotions that afflicted their violent ancestors, but the continual mind conditioning gives them the impassivity sought after by all Vulcans. Though not all can arrive at the penultimate pure logical state, the exacting process of mental control gives Vulcans enough to conform to the ideals of Vulcan society. The ultimate level of logical thought is achieved through the attainment of kohlinar. Vulcans believe knowledge to be the only defense against unknown dangers, and pursue them with the intellect and logic that makes them some of the finest scholars in the Federation. Their pursuit of knowledge and impassivity of emotion are the driving forces in a Vulcan's life. Culture and Tradition Vulcans were brewing wines at least 300 years ago circa 2070 — or since before the United Federation of Planets was founded. Some Vulcans are vegetarian, and do not eat food with their hands. (ENT: "Broken Bow") See also: Vulcan Philosophy Science and Technology * List of Vulcan starships (Pre-Federation) * List of Vulcan starship classes (Pre-Federation) People *Lojal *Saavik *Sakonna *Sarek *Satok *Savar *Skoon *Solin *Solkar *Sonak *Soval *Solok *Spock *Stonn *Surak *Sybok *Tallera *T'Lar *Tolaris *Tos *T'Pan *T'Pau *T'Pol *T'Pring *Valeris *Vanik *V'lar *Voris *Xon Appearances *TOS: "Amok Time" *TOS: "The Savage Curtain" *TNG: "Sarek (episode)" *TNG: "Gambit, Part I" and "Part II" *DS9: "The Maquis, Part I" and "Part II" *DS9: "The Forsaken" *DS9: "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" *DS9: "Field of Fire" *ENT: "Fusion" *ENT: "Fallen Hero" *Star Trek III: The Search for Spock *Star Trek V: The Final Frontier *Star Trek: First Contact